1.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
2.
Metropolitan Railway
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Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at Paddington, Euston, and Kings Cross to the City. It opened to the public on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the line was soon extended from both ends, and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended to Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street. Electric traction was introduced in 1905 and by 1907 electric multiple units operated most of the services, unlike other railway companies in the London area, the Met developed land for housing, and after World War I promoted housing estates near the railway using the Metro-land brand. On 1 July 1933, the Met was amalgamated with the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, former Met tracks and stations are used by the London Undergrounds Metropolitan, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly, and Jubilee lines, and by Chiltern Railways. In the first half of the 19th century the population and physical extent of London grew greatly, only Fenchurch Street station was within the City. The congested streets and the distance to the City from the stations to the north, none were successful, and the 1846 Royal Commission investigation into Metropolitan Railway Termini banned construction of new lines or stations in the built-up central area. The concept of a railway linking the City with the mainline termini was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City, was a promoter of several schemes. The scheme was rejected by the 1846 commission, but Pearson returned to the idea in 1852 when he helped set up the City Terminus Company to build a railway from Farringdon to Kings Cross. Although the plan was supported by the City, the companies were not interested. The Bayswater, Paddington, and Holborn Bridge Railway Company was established to connect the Great Western Railways Paddington station to Pearsons route at Kings Cross, a bill was published in November 1852 and in January 1853 the directors held their first meeting and appointed John Fowler as its engineer. After successful lobbying, the company secured parliamentary approval under the name of the North Metropolitan Railway in the summer of 1853 and this dropped the City terminus and extended the route south from Farringdon to the General Post Office in St. Martins Le Grand. The route at the end was also altered so that it connected more directly to the GWR station. Permission was also sought to connect to the London and North Western Railway at Euston and to the Great Northern Railway at Kings Cross, the companys name was also to be changed again, to Metropolitan Railway. Royal assent was granted to the North Metropolitan Railway Act on 7 August 1854, construction of the railway was estimated to cost £1 million. Initially, with the Crimean War under way, the Met found it hard to raise the capital, while it attempted to raise the funds it presented new bills to Parliament seeking an extension of time to carry out the works. In July 1855, an Act to make a connection to the GNR at Kings Cross received royal assent
3.
Pinner tube station
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Pinner is a London Underground station on the Metropolitan line in zone 5. The station was opened in 1885 as part of the Victorian expansion of dormitory suburbs, the site is served by several bus routes including links to the Hatch End railway station which was known as Pinner & Hatch End prior to 1920. Step free facilities were opened in 2008 and its adjacent stations are Northwood Hills and North Harrow. Since Pinner is not served by fast services, one should change at Harrow-on-the-Hill or Moor Park for an all stations or semi-fast Metropolitan line train in either direction and this change is only needed on Mondays-Fridays during peak hours only. The station was opened on 25 May 1885, following an expansion to nearby Harrow-on-the-Hill station in 1880. It remained the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway until 1 September 1887 when the line was extended to Rickmansworth. The long, single-story station building on the up platform is the original building, the down platform buildings were built during the four-tracking project of the 1950s and 60s in a matching yellow brick. In 1915, the Metro-land project was conceived in order to move out of central London into rural Middlesex. Houses near the stations were built in haste and sold for as little as £400 each, however, in Pinner houses built during this expansion were required to be worth at least £1,000 – compared to Harrow-on-the-Hill where prices were subject to a £750 minimum. In 2009, a Pyrenean Mountain Dog named Rufus became a celebrity for his daily commute from Pinner to Baker Street due to his size. Rufus accompanies his owner, Michael Stavrides, as he travels to his art gallery in Marylebone, the dog received publicity following a debate began in the Daily Mail after he was described as pony-like and a person objected to his presence on the rush hour train. The H12 route also connects Pinner tube station to Hatch End railway station, Northwood Hills tube station is 2.08 kilometres to the north west and North Harrow is 1.48 kilometres to the south east on the Metropolitan line. Access to the platform is step-free from the ticket hall. In order to reach the platform, it is necessary to use a footbridge. Before this, a subway between the two platforms existed, but this was closed for safety reasons, accessibility lifts opened on 18 July 2008 making the station totally step-free. In the northbound direction the station is served by trains to Watford, in the southbound direction off-peak services generally run 4tph to Baker Street and 4tph to Aldgate. Archived from the original on 2008-03-18, the first train to arrive at Pinner in 1885 Pinner station ticket hall, circa 1930 Northbound platform, July 1955 Construction of the passenger subway to Cecil Park, January 1960
4.
Rickmansworth station
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Rickmansworth is a London Underground station in the town of Rickmansworth, in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire to the north-west of London. It is served by the LU Metropolitan line and by Chiltern Railways and it is one of the few stations beyond Greater London served by the London Underground, and as a consequence is in Travelcard Zone 7, previously Zone A. Until 1961, Rickmansworth station was the point from steam to electric locomotives for Metropolitan line trains from Aylesbury to London. The electrification was extended north to Amersham and Chesham, leaving Aylesbury services to be served by British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple unit trains. Locomotive hauled trains on the Metropolitan line were replaced by the new trains of A60. However, Rickmansworth is still the point for drivers on the Metropolitan line. The majority of LU trains heading north to Amersham are timetabled to stop at Rickmansworth for about five minutes to train staff. Many evening running Metropolitan line trains terminate at Rickmansworth due to the various sidings around the station, there are also occasional services between Rickmansworth and Watford early in the morning, or late in the evening. However, during time, Chiltern trains do not stop at Rickmansworth as a result of the short platforms making it unsafe to board or alight from 6 car or longer trains. There are two tracks through the station, shared in both directions by London Underground and National Rail trains, a third old and unused platform is still in place. This platform also served trains running to and from Watford through the West curve
5.
Quadruple track
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A quadruple-track railway is a railway line consisting of four parallel tracks, with two tracks used in each direction. Quadruple-track railways can handle large amounts of traffic, and so are used on busy routes. Some tracks are only tripled, having one extra track to relieve congestion, while some tracks are sextupled. Quadruple track can manage a larger amount of traffic with usually twice the capacity of double track and it is often seen around large metropolis or on busy inter-city corridors. In quadruple track, faster trains can overtake slower ones, High-speed rail of 200 km/h average speed and commuter rail of 40 km/h average can co-exist in quadruple track without interrupting each other. Quadruple track costs more due to requiring more materials and increased land acquisition costs and this also applies to tunneling and bridge costs. When adding tracks, land acquisition can become prohibitively expensive, maintenance costs are higher and often more complex as there may be more switches on the track than on a two-track line. For safety, costly grade separations are almost always required, in quadruple track, trains are sorted in various ways in order to make maximum use of track capacity. These can include one or a combination of, Sorting by speed A faster express line and it increases the capacity of that route significantly, and allows for significant increases in inter-city high-speed train frequency with reduced travel times. Sorting by distance Long distance inter-city rail and freight trains are separated from short distance commuter rail and this helps to prevent delays on one service affecting the other, and is commonly seen in metropolitan areas. Quadrupling may be necessary when a new rail service begins to operate on an existing line. Sometimes the local trains have separate technology, such as electrical system or signalling, Sorting by destination When a quadruple track line divides to different destinations part way along, trains need to be sorted by their destination. Sorting by passenger/ freight Passenger trains and freight trains can be separated with each different track and this is somewhat still done to this day by NS, CSX, and Conrail Shared Assets trains on Amtrak-owned trackage in the Philadelphia area. Other modes Two double track lines along opposite sides of a river can operate as a quadruple track, examples of this can be found in Rhone in France and Rhine in Germany. As it can be seen from the pictures below in the Gallery of diagrams, sometimes two of the tracks go more straight and with a little distance from the two other. This is a decision when widening a double track section. The New York Centrals Water Level Route across upstate New York was four-tracked in majority as early as 1876 and this was extended to Buffalo by 1936. Financial troubles and changing traffic patterns caused this to be downgraded to a track by 1975
6.
Tramlink
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Tramlink is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in London since 1952 and it is owned by London Trams, an arm of Transport for London, and operated by FirstGroup. The Tramlink is the fourth-busiest light rail network in the UK behind Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro, in 1990 Croydon Council with London Regional Transport put the project to Parliament and the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink. In 1996 Tramtrack Croydon Limited won a 99-year Private Finance Initiative contract to design, build, operate, TCL was a partnership comprising FirstGroup, Bombardier Transportation, Sir Robert McAlpine and Amey, and Royal Bank of Scotland and 3i. TCL kept the revenue generated by Tramlink and LRT had to pay compensation to TCL for any changes to the fares, TCL subcontracted operations to CentreWest Buses. One of the leading to its creation was that the London Borough of Croydon has no London Underground service. There are four routes, Route 1 – Elmers End to Croydon, Route 2 – Beckenham Junction to Croydon, Route 3 – New Addington to Wimbledon, and Route 4 – Therapia Lane to Elmers End. Route 2 runs parallel to the Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction line of the Southern network between Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction – the National Rail track had been singled some years earlier. At Woodside the old station buildings stand disused, and the platforms have been replaced by accessible low platforms. From Woodside to near Sandilands and from near Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park, Tramlink follows the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway, including the Park Hill tunnels. The section of Route 3 between Wimbledon and West Croydon mostly follows the single-track British Rail route, closed on 31 May 1997 so that it could be converted for Tramlink, a partial obstruction near this point has necessitated the use of interlaced track. A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road was dismantled to make way for the flyover over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line, the footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle station on the Swanage Railway. In March 2008, TfL announced that it had reached agreement to buy TCL for £98m, the purchase was finalised on 28 June 2008. The background to this purchase relates to the requirement that TfL compensates TCL for the consequences of any changes to the fares, in 2007 that payment was £4m, with an annual increase in rate. In October 2008 TfL introduced a new livery, using the blue, white and green of the routes on TfL maps, the colour of the cars was changed to green, and the brand name was changed from Croydon Tramlink to simply Tramlink. These refurbishments were completed in early 2009, the tram stops have low platforms,35 cm above rail level. They are unstaffed and have automated ticket machines, in general, access between the platforms involves crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. There are 39 stops, most being 32.2 m long and they are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 2 m
7.
Hertfordshire
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Hertfordshire is a county in southern England, bordered by Bedfordshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Buckinghamshire to the west and Greater London to the south. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region, in 2013, the county had a population of 1,140,700 living in an area of 634 square miles. Four towns have between 50,000 and 100,000 residents, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans. Hertford, once the market town for the medieval agricultural county derives its name from a hart. Elevations are high for the region in the north and west and these reach over 240m in the western projection around Tring which is in the Chilterns. The countys borders are approximately the watersheds of the Colne and Lea, hertfordshires undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much is protected by green belt. The countys landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in the new town of Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, Leavesden filmed much of the UK-based $7.7 Bn box office Harry Potter film series and has the countrys studio tour. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill and his martyrs cross of a yellow saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is well-served with motorways and railways, providing access to London. The largest sector of the economy of the county is in services, Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing, the name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems, there is evidence of humans living in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period. It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age and this was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age. 293 the first recorded British martyrdom is believed to have taken place. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyrs cross of a saltire on a blue background is reflected in the flag. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire, with the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century, the now unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 6th century the majority of the county was part of the East Saxon kingdom
8.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
9.
Metropolitan line
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Coloured magenta on the tube map, the line is 41.4 miles in length and serves 34 stations. Unlike the tube railways, the tunnels are just below the surface, just under 67 million passenger journeys were made on the line in 2011/12. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street, from the end of the 19th century, the railway shared tracks with the Great Central Railway route out of Marylebone. The central London lines were electrified by 1907, but electric locomotives were exchanged for steam locomotives on trains heading north of Harrow, after the railway was absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 the line was cut back to Aylesbury. Steam trains ran until 1961, when the line was electrified to, the Hammersmith & City line was shown on the tube map as part of the Metropolitan line until 1990, when it appeared as a separate line. The current S7 and S8 Stock trains entered service between 2010 and 2012, the track is mostly underground between Aldgate and Finchley Road, save from Barbican and Farringdon as well as the Baker Street platforms. Baker Street is the terminus for some trains not continuing on to Aldgate. The disused Metropolitan line platforms at Willesden Green and Neasden are still in place despite Metropolitan line services having been withdrawn in 1940. The Watford branch is due to be diverted to Watford Junction by 2020, resulting in the closure of Watford station, the extension will link up with the London Overground Watford DC Line and would provide an interchange with the West Coast Main Line. The Metropolitan Railway was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933 and it opened on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the worlds first underground railway. In 1871, when plans were presented for a railway in Paris. The modern word metro is a form of the French word. The railway was extended from both ends and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street, from the end of the 19th century, the railway shared tracks with the Great Central Railway route out of Marylebone. Electric traction was introduced in 1905 with electric multiple units operating between Uxbridge, Harrow-on-the-Hill and Baker Street, to remove steam and smoke from the tunnels in central London, the railway purchased electric locomotives, exchanged for steam locomotives at Harrow from 1908. In 1910, a silent film recording was made showing large portions of the journey from Baker Street to Aylesbury and Uxbridge. The film survives and is publicly available, unlike other railways in the London area, the Met developed land for housing, thus benefitting from the increase in the value of its land caused by the building of the railway. After World War I it promoted its housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand, to improve services, more powerful electric and steam locomotives were purchased in the 1920s
10.
Northwood tube station
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Northwood is a station on the Watford branch of the Metropolitan line, in Travelcard Zone 6. The station is located just off the road through the town. The line serves as the sole link between the town of Northwood and London, key for a region known as Metro-Land. Northwood used to be a terminus for many Metropolitan trains, similar to the status of Harrow-on-the-Hill, some trains from London do terminate at Northwood, due to the placement of two sidings, but this usually happens when there are engineering works or delays north of Northwood. The old goods sidings still exist at Northwood but the old goods depot has been demolished, the station is located on a four-track section of the Metropolitan line. The two platforms are on the slow lines, there are no platforms on the fast lines because fast services do not stop at this station. Since it is not served by fast services, one should take a fast service to Moor Park, the station was opened on 1 September 1887 on the Metropolitan Railways extension from the previous terminus at Pinner, en route to Rickmansworth. The station was rebuilt in 1961-1962 to include platforms on the newly quadrupled Watford slow lines rather than the Amersham fast lines. In the original Crossrail plans, Crossrail would have connected to Aylesbury via the fast lines from Harrow to Rickmansworth, in the plans, Northwood would have been connected to Aylesbury by two extra platforms on the fast lines. However, plans for Crossrail to serve Aylesbury were dropped during the late 1990s, in the northbound direction the station is served by trains to Watford, Amersham and Chesham trains. In the southbound direction off-peak services generally run 4tph to Baker Street, London Buses routes 282,331 and H11 and Non TFL route LSP route 8 serve the station
11.
Great Central Railway
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The Great Central Railway in England came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the London, on assuming its new title, the Great Central Railway had a main line from Manchester London Road Station via Penistone, Sheffield Victoria, Brigg and Grimsby to Cleethorpes. A second line left the line at Penistone and served Barnsley, Doncaster, other lines linked Sheffield to Barnsley and Doncaster and also Lincoln and Wrawby Junction. Branch lines in north Lincolnshire ran to Barton-upon-Humber and New Holland, in the Manchester area, lines ran to Stalybridge and Glossop. In the 1890s the MS&LR began construction of its Derbyshire lines, a loop line was built to serve its station in Chesterfield. The Great Central Railway was the first railway to be granted a coat of arms, the design included elements representing Manchester, Sheffield, Lincoln, Leicester, and London. It was used on locomotives and coaches, the London and North Eastern Railway and the British Transport Commission, successors of the GCR, were granted Arms of their own incorporating the GCR motto Forward. The Great Central Railway Company Limited applied to the College of Arms as the successors to British Transport Commission for permission to utilise the Coat of Arms of the GCR. A new design incorporating the same components, updated in the modern style was proposed. The MS&LR obtained Parliamentary approval in 1893 for its extension to London, on 1 August 1897, the railways name was changed to Great Central Railway. Building work started in 1895, the new line,92 miles in length, opened for traffic on 25 July 1898, for passenger traffic on 15 March 1899. It was designed for high-speed running throughout, as a Sheffield company, it retained its nomenclature when the London extension opened. Trains to London were still down trains, the opposite of standard practice on every other line to the capital. In 1903, new rails were laid parallel to the Metropolitan Railway from Harrow to the north of Finchley Road. In 1902 the company introduced a service from Bournemouth and Southampton to York. The route from Banbury to Reading was over Great Western track and from there it traversed South Eastern Railway track via Aldershot and Guildford to Redhill and on to Folkestone, at the same time the Great Central was gaining a reputation for fast services to and from London. Slip coaches were provided for passengers for Leicester and Nottingham, on 2 April 1906, an alternative main line route from Grendon Underwood Junction to Neasden opened. The line was joint GCR/GWR between Ashendon Junction and Northolt Junction, by the time the line was built, the companies had settled their differences
12.
British Rail
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British Railways, which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies and lasted until the privatisation of British Rail. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, the period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the national railway network. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotion had been replaced by diesel and electric traction. Passengers replaced freight as the source of business, and one-third of the network was closed by the Beeching Axe of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On privatisation, responsibility for track, signalling and stations was transferred to Railtrack, the British Rail double arrow logo is formed of two interlocked arrows showing the direction of travel on a double track railway and was nicknamed the arrow of indecision. The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century, during World War I the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and the Railways Act 1921 is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II, under the Transport Act 1947. This Act made provision for the nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlees Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four. There were also joint railways between the Big Four and a few railways to consider. Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway, the London Underground – publicly owned since 1933 – was also nationalised, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was already run by the government, the electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was also excluded from nationalisation. The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the network were unprofitable and hard to justify socially, however, the general financial position of BR became gradually poorer, until an operating loss was recorded in 1955. The Executive itself had abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the time included the return of road haulage to the private sector. British Railways was divided into regions which were based on the areas the former Big Four operated in, later. Western Region of British Railways, former Great Western Railway lines, London Midland Region of British Railways, former London Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England
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London transport portal
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